Client
Large manufacturing facility with 24/7 operations runs consecutive 12-hour shifts and employs hundreds from the Richmond metro area.
Location
Central Virginia
“Efficient time management of a growing temporary workforce enables customers real-time access to labor usage and costs while eliminating the headaches associated with outdated practices. This is also a benefit for employees. By tracking their own time via an app they manage, they get a clearer understanding of how many hours they’ve worked, in a week and in an assignment overall.”
The Challenge
A surge in business demand required this large manufacturer to quickly bring on a sizable number of individuals. In tandem, pressures of maintaining COVID protocols, onboarding new employees, and no consistent process for properly tracking and reporting accurate time for staffing employees, resulted in increased workloads and challenges for managers and supervisors. Inconsistent time tracking caused errors and delays in delivering payroll properly to employees, and together, all of these issues caused frustration and turnover in an extremely tight labor market.
AdvantaStaff’s existing relationship with the company enabled the hiring of temporary and temp-to-full-time help needed at a rapid pace, but as the employees started working, a new problem became apparent: with this sized group, time-tracking and communication was complex and differed by department and shift.
The company uses an electronic timekeeping system for full-time employee tracking. It couldn’t extend that solution to this large number of temporary workers and implementing a similar process in-house wasn’t an option. The short-term solution was a clunky combination of time-tracking practices across shifts. Some reported time on the company timekeeping system, others used individual paper timecards, and still others used group timesheets.
This use of multiple, outdated systems led to confusion and extra work, including incorrect reporting, and greater chances for fraud, through time theft – rounding up hours – and “buddy punching” – having someone clock in/out on another’s behalf (common with organizations still using timesheets and clocks). This also meant that the supervisors couldn’t accurately collect and report their labor usage and costs, which led to production planning difficulties.
The Solution
Time tracking data revealed that the US economy loses 50 million hours in productivity per day because of unrecorded work activities. (Market Research Future, 2020)
AdvantaStaff’s understanding of manufacturing and timekeeping allowed for quick implementation and smooth transition to a user-friendly, highly accurate solution and integrated personalized texting communications. All AdvantaStaff employees at this facility now use a mobile, geo-tagged time-tracking application. Running on iOS and Android, employees clock-in and out on their smart phones once they’re in the client’s geo-location. This shift to a single, managed solution has led to a number of improvements for everyone.
Eliminates the client burden of temporary employee time-tracking. In addition to giving the client supervisors back some much-needed time, this further increases the separation between the client and AdvantaStaff employees for legal purposes, which is critically important with this group of employees.
Increases productivity. The technology removes one of the biggest headaches for AdvantaStaff employees and their on-site supervisors. As employees spend less time tracking their time, they can spend more time on work tasks. And on-site supervisors no longer need to follow up with any AdvantaStaff employees regarding time-tracking.
Improves communication. AdvantaStaff has real-time contact with employees using texting – enabling simultaneous messaging to all employees and messaging individual employees or groups of employees, like those on a certain shift, etc. It is also easier for employees to contact AdvantaStaff concerning missed time, missed logs, and changes to an assignment.
Reduces chances for fraudulent time reporting. Everyone can more easily see attendance and absenteeism. Employees enter and track their own time and must be within the company’s geolocation to do it. And no one else can clock in or out for an employee.
Easy access to reports and insights. With real-time access to all employee time punches, the client and AdvantaStaff can make better decisions and derive stronger insights from employee work hours. Supervisors can see exactly how many people are on-site, allowing immediate job assignments, and rotations mid-shift as needed for better production planning and job completion. Punches can be sorted in multiple ways, including by department, supervisor, position, timeframe, etc., and the client’s finance department has access to labor costs for job-costing. And, in the case of an emergency, the client can have immediate access to number of employees onsite.
Bottom-line Results
By implementing a time tracking system specifically for its staffing employees, AdvantaStaff has helped boost productivity and improve engagement and performance. Today’s workforce is accustomed to using apps and having immediate access to information. Anything that can be done to reduce turnover and increase employee satisfaction is a major win for any company.
The client no longer has a role in managing AdvantaStaff employees’ time, nor do they need to allow these employees to use their equipment to input their time or permit outside equipment to connect to their network to do it.
Moving to mobile time-tracking, has given everyone – the client, AdvantaStaff and our employees – better insight into employee work hours. Seeing accurate hours from all shifts through reporting, the client can better understand their labor usage and address upcoming needs.
The client now has a solution familiar to AdvantaStaff employees. Rather than requiring staff to work with a new program, they enter their time via a simple app, using a device they have with them at (almost) all times. This shift has led to a happier, more engaged workforce better focused on the job they need to do.
AdvantaStaff makes it easier for manufacturers to track and manage temporary employee time worked:
- Less focus on timekeeping software and/or maintaining manual timekeeping system
- Reduced co-employment concerns and issues, with clear separation between full-time employee costs and AdvantaStaff temporary labor costs and between employers
- Decreased timekeeping errors, for real-time, accurate labor costs and increased payroll accuracy
- Reduced HR issues, potential employee frustrations, and turnover
To see how AdvantaStaff can help your company fulfill your staffing needs, fill out our contact form or call us at 804-414-1560.